Interview with a robot
6 July 2010
Avianova
5 July 2010
I am looking forward to flying with them…
The 8 phases of dating
2 July 2010
Impossible
1 July 2010
Java vs .NET
29 June 2010
Validation
28 June 2010
Google Chrome’s speed test video – FAST
5 May 2010
You know I am not Google lover, but you gotta watch this – pretty awesome!
Originally posted by Vivek Wadhwa on TechCrunch
In my last post, I discussed why the odds of a rookie entrepreneur getting seed financing from a VC are very slim. The reality is that less than 5% of venture money goes to seed-stage startups; VCs typically invest when a company has a working product, a tested business model, and a strong management team. It’s the entrepreneurs who take the risk; not the VCs. They beg and borrow money from friends and family, max out their credit cards, and sometimes make do by living at home with their parents. Yet, very often, it’s the VCs who get the glory. I don’t think that’s fair. So in this post, I’m going to highlight three bootstrapped companies, and share the advice of their founders. In my books, entrepreneurs are the real heroes—those who make the innovation happen. They are the ones you should be following on Twitter and learning from, not boastful VCs.
ShhOut about it!
14 April 2010
Some more great development news at CityandOut. We’ve partnered with Arrivalguides, one of the leading publishers of travel content in Europe and we are now making available, for free, hundreds of City Guides in pdf format.
Simply go to CityandOut, search for your chosen destination and download the guide. No need to login, boring surveys or other annoying stuff. Just find the guide you need and download it. And don’t forget to tell your friends of course.
There are 388 guides available in English and 88 in Italian. More languages will come soon.
Also, check our About section to discover how CityandOut can help you discover new places and plan your trips.
And, as usual, send us your feedback, tips and love. And we are feeling very much loved already:
Since we launched the alpha version of CityandOut on the 25th of January, people from 64 different countries and 613 cities visited the site, shared our content via Facebook and booked their trips. Thank you all, wherever you are.
Stay tuned for some more exciting stuff and ShhOut about it!
CityandOut
Be a local. Everywhere.
Professor. You are wrong.
2 April 2010
Shades of blue and $80m
22 March 2010
The difference between a royal blue and light royal blue is equal to $80 million in revenue for a search engine, according to Paul Ray, a user experience manager for Bing.
Continue reading here
Google’s opt-out village
19 March 2010
The End of Publishing
17 March 2010
Great simple video. Watch it in full. It may seem boring at first but you’ll be surprised.
Daily Show’s Jon Stewart gives ChatRoulette a spin
5 March 2010
Daily Show host Jon Stewart did a take on ChatRoulette, the video chat phenomenon started by a 17-year-old in Moscow, and ran into its two core constituencies — reporters and, er, body parts.
Read the full article and watch the hilarious video on Venturebeat
Microsoft’s Project Natal is hot. Like Pong hot.
3 March 2010
Originally posted by Mike Arrington on TechCrunch
Around 1976, when I was a very young lad, I somehow convinced my parents to spring for a home version of the most cutting edge consumer video game available at the time – Pong. I fondly remember sitting in the living room and playing that game for tens of hours. My parents actually thought it was fun, too. And so did the neighbors, who all stopped by to try it out. Pong was a genuinely new and totally fun social thing. And it sure beat playing Monopoly.
Keep reading on TechCrunch
Simple, classic
3 March 2010
The bamboo principle
25 February 2010
Written by Dave Lavinsky
You know I agree this is the key to success.
This is pretty amazing.
After being planted, timber bamboo plants are hardly noticeable above the ground for nearly four years. But once their roots are fully formed around the four-year mark, they can grow a remarkable 80 feet in just six weeks.
The key to their amazing growth is their extremely solid foundation. To learn about how emerging companies can create a solid foundation for their businesses, the other day, I interviewed Ken Lodi, creator of The Bamboo Principle.
What Ken explained to me is that the solid foundation of a company is rooted around its employees. But, importantly, Ken explained that a company’s greatest resource is NOT its employees.
Rather, the greatest resource is the TALENT of its employees.
The fact is this – most companies have some great employees that are underutilized. Conversely, great entrepreneurs and business owners are able to figure out what their employees like to do. Interestingly, what they like to do is oftentimes what employees are best at, and what they will achieve the best results at.
Ken equated this to sports. Players on your team, he explained, don’t necessarily have to be great at everything. For example, on a football team, the quarterback doesn’t need to be a great punter. And the punter doesn’t need to be a great quarterback. The problem arises when your quarterback is spending his days punting. The business owner must figure this out and make the requisite changes.
The best way to figure this out is to mentor and coach your employees. You need to figure out what their values and goals are, and modify their roles as needed to leverage them. When meeting with employees ask open ended questions (not just “yes” and “no” questions). For example, ask “if you could spend the majority of your work day doing just one thing, what would it be?”
Employees too must figure out what they value and enjoy and make sure their job roles are in line with this. This is the key to improving employee productivity, satisfaction and performance. It’s called “making a vacation out of your vocation.”
Both employees and entrepreneurs/business owners should develop a fresh assessment of themselves. What do you/they like to do most in their jobs? What makes you/they say “cool?” And, ask yourself, “if money wasn’t an issue and you could do one thing with your work life, what would it be?”
Success requires a solid foundation. Six minute abs don’t work. Nothing is fast and easy. You need to work hard to build a solid foundation from which you can build success. And this foundation is your employees. And making sure you are leveraging your employees to their best potential.
So make sure you quarterback is not playing defense. Talk to your employees. Find out what they value and enjoy doing. And create a workplace that supports their values, leverages their talents, and achieves massive and successful growth – just like the timber bamboo.
Growthink University members can listen to my interview with Ken Lodi here. Not a member? Then simply test drive Growthink University for 30 days here.
Johnny’s, the true place
23 February 2010
Written by my friend Nichol with whom I shared a few too many shots at Johnny’s.
I don’t know what to say about Johnny’s. I don’t know how many hours I have spent there. How many dollars drunk and how many songs played on the juke box. Christmas Day one year, right before I got married, right after I got married, to celebrate my grad school graduation, to celerate the birth of my daughter, the arrival of a friend and her departure a few months later. To celebrate that it was Tuesday, to console a friend, to mend a heart, to drink because it was quittin time or because it was noon. Once, some guy tried to sell me a green laser from the eye ward at St. Vincents, it could burn a hole in a garbage bag or paint a plane 15000 feet in the air. The next night, someone else tried to sell me a watch that was full of lighter fluid and when you started the stop watch a little flame came out of the other side. I helped someone write a pretzle cookbook. Two strangers helped pick out baby names for my first kid. A co-worker barfs tequilla shots. Some girl gets naked in a window across the street. You walk in and your brother’s sitting at the bar, or your best friend, or a total stranger that is just as happy to see you as anyone else is ever going to be.
I was born in NY. And I love it. But I also know enough to know, it’s a fucking horrible city, drowning in a pestilence of unsustainable capitalist angst. Velvet ropes holding back the 20 year old sluts in short dresses trying to fuck the next partner at Goldman, meatheads and uberhipsters chasing a pair of legs or a purer line of powder in the bathroom. The streets are crowded by ceaseless illusions. Strippers on stages. Restless competition. A neverending stream of unforgivable trespasses. Infinite objectification, specialization, untraceable trends; it is a city designed to destroy love and make simplicity complicated and everything commercial.
Johnny’s is the only place I’ve ever found that wasn’t that. The only place that was safe, or mostly so, from the insanity of the city outside. Yeah, sure, occasionally a bartender flashes her tits when things get late at night, or someone gets a little finger business at the other end of the bar, but for the most part, Johnny’s is where true denizens of the city find a place that is loud enough and not too quiet, to drink and share. To be themselves, to relax, to be whole at the bottom of a bottle.
I don’t know what it is that makes Johnny’s what it is. Maybe it is the bartenders. They are phenomenal. Vonya, Zach. Christie! Maybe it’s the simplicity of the place. The open window on the street and a summer breeze blowing in. Huddling together outside for a smoke at 2 in the December morning. Maybe it’s because it’s cheap. Maybe it’s because there’s a drawing of a robot on the wall of the bathroom. Or maybe it’s the regulars who drink there. A playwright working a script in the corner, a mechanic talking about overhead cams and gear ratios. A comedian and a day trader. Some punk rock guy doing shots. A nurse. A delivery guy, taking a break between rounds. I don’t know. And the best part is, if you wanna be a regular, all you gotta do is walk in, drink what you want, and if you get hungry, order delivery. Sit at the bar, play a song, whatever. Do it again the next day and that’s all it takes.
Who knows what it is, where that magic comes from. I don’t know. And I don’t even spend that much time in there. All I know is that Johnny Cash is on the juke box and so is Avril Lavigne, they make me rum punches or bloody mary’s when I ask for ‘em, they keep a tally on the board for people who buy me a drink, and I can sit in the window as long as I like with as many of my friends as I can fit inside.
Fantastica
20 February 2010
Very inspiring Jamie Oliver’s talk at TED
15 February 2010
Being born under this sign determines many talents, as well as other characteristics that may not be so commendable. Rats are very lively and need a lot of mental and physical stimulation. They can be calm and perceptive, but sometimes their brains can cause a mental restlessness, tempting them to take on too much, only to discover they are unable to meet their commitments. Rats are blessed with one of the best intellects going. Add to their intelligence a curiosity and a bright imagination, and they seem as sharp as a needle.
Detailed Description
of The Water Rat